Nomura Takes 900,000 SF At Worldwide Plaza

NEW YORK CITY-In the largest new office lease in Midtown Manhattan since 2004, financial services giant Nomura Holding America Inc. has inked a 900,000-square-foot deal to anchor Midtown’s Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Ave. between 49^th and 50^th streets for its new US headquarters , the company unveiled Wednesday morning. By mid-2013, the company will relocate from its current home at 2 World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan, where it subleases from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Looking to expand its US presence, Nomura will occupy 20 floors inside the 1.8-million-square-foot class A office tower, which will bring the building to 95% occupancy, says Peter S. Duncan, president and CEO of George Comfort & Sons, who heads the investment group WWP Office LLC, which owns the property. The group bought the property in 2009 for $590 million, about half of what Macklowe Properties paid for it as part of its $7.2-billion acquisition of the Equity Office Properties portfolio in early 2007.